by Terry Brooks
When they disembarked from the shuttle at the landing platform, R2-D2 was already bustling about. The little droid beeped at Anakin cheerfully, then wandered over to the edge of the rampway to look down at the traffic. In doing so, he leaned out too far and tumbled over. Anakin gasped, but a second later the astromech droid reappeared, boosted back onto the rampway by his onboard jets. On hearing R2-D2's ensuing flurry of chirps and whistles, the boy smiled in spite of himself.
At the head of the loading ramp, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were engaged in a heated discussion. Wind whipped down the canyons of the city's towering buildings, hiding their words from the boy. Carefully, he edged closer so that he could listen in.
"It is not disrespect, Master!" Obi-Wan was saying vehemently. "It is the truth!"
"From your point of view, perhaps." Qui-Gon's face was hard and tight with anger.
The younger Jedi's voice dropped a notch. "The boy is dangerous. They all sense it. Why can't you?"
"His fate is uncertain, but he is not dangerous," Qui-Gon corrected sharply. "The Council will decide Anakin's future. That should be enough for you." He turned away dismissively.
"Now get on board!"
Obi-Wan wheeled away and stalked up the ramp into the ship. R2-D2 followed, still whistling happily. Qui-Gon turned to Anakin, and the boy walked up to him.
"Master Qui-Gon," he said uncomfortably, riddled with doubt and guilt over what was happening, "I don't want to be a problem. "
Qui-Gon placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You won't be, Annie." He glanced toward the ship, then knelt before the boy. "I'm not allowed to train you, so I want you to watch me instead and be mindful of what you see. Always remember, your focus determines your reality." He paused, eyes locked on Anakin. "Stay close to me, and you will be safe."
The boy nodded his understanding. "Can I ask you something?" The Jedi Master nodded. "What are midi-chlorians?"
Wind whipped at Qui-Gon's long hair, blowing strands of it across his strong face. "Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that reside within the cells of all living things and communicate with the Force."
"They live inside of me?" the boy asked.
"In your cells." Qui-Gon paused. "We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians. "
"Symbi-what?"
"Symbionts. Life-forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. Ourmidi-chlorians continually speak to us, Annie, telling us the will of the Force."
"They do?"
Qui-Gon cocked one eyebrow. "When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you."
Anakin thought about it a moment, then frowned. "I don't understand."
Qui-Gon smiled, and his eyes were warm and secretive. "With time and training, Annie, you will."
A pair of shuttles eased up to the loading dock, and Queen Amidala, her handmaidens, Captain Panaka, and an escort of officers and guards disembarked. Last off the second shuttle was Jar Jar Binks. Amidala was wearing a purple velvet travel cloak that draped her body in soft folds and a gold-rimmed cowl that framed her smooth white face like a cameo portrait.
Qui-Gon rose and stood waiting beside Anakin as the Queen and her handmaidens approached.
"Your Highness," Qui-Gon greeted with a deferential inclination of his head. "It will be our pleasure to continue to serve and protect you."
Amidala nodded. "I welcome your help. Senator Palpatine fears the Federation means to destroy me."
"I promise you, we will not let that happen," the Jedi Master advised solemnly.
The Queen turned and with her handmaidens followed Panaka and the Naboo guards and officers into the transport.
Jar Jar hurried over and enveloped Anakin in a huge hug. "Weesa goen home, Annie!" he exclaimed with a grin, and Anakin Skywalker hugged. him back.
Moments later they were all aboard, and the sleek transport had lifted off, leaving Coruscant behind.
It was night in the Naboo capital city of Theed, the streets empty and silent save for the occasional passing of battle-droid patrols and the whisper of the wind. In the Queen's throne room, Nute Gunray and Rune Haako stood attentively before a hologram ofDarth Sidious. The hologram filled the space at one end of the room, rising up before them menacingly.
The dark-cloaked figure at its center gestured. "The Queen is on her way to you," the Sith Lord intoned softly. "When she arrives, force her to sign the treaty."
There was a momentary pause as the Neimoidians exchanged worried looks. "Yes, my lord," Nute Gunray agreed reluctantly.
"Viceroy, is the planet secure?" The dark figure in the hologram shimmered with movement.
"Yes, my lord." Gunray was on firmer ground here. "We have taken the last pockets of resistance, consisting of mostly primitive life-forms. We are now in complete control."
The faceless speaker nodded. "Good. I will see to it that in the Senate things stay as they are. I am sending Darth Maul to join you. He will deal with the]edi."
"Yes, my lord." The words were a litany.
The hologram and Darth Sidious faded away. The Neimoidians stood where they were, frozen in place.
"A Sith Lord, here with us?" Rune Haako whispered in disbelief, and this time Nute Gunray had nothing to say at all.
Chapter 19
Aboard the Queen's transport, coming out of hyperspace and approaching the Naboo star system, Qui-Gon Jinn paused on his way to a meeting with the Queen to study Anakin Skywalker.
The boy stood at the pilot's console next to Ric Olie. The Naboo pilot was bent forward over the controls, pointing each one out in turn and explaining its function. Anakin was absorbing the information with astonishing quickness, brow furrowed, eyes intense, concentration total.
"And that one?" The boy pointed.
"The forward stabilizer." Ric Olie glanced up at him expectantly, waiting.
"And those control the pitch?" Anakin indicated a bank of levers by the pilot's right hand.
Ric Olie's weathered face broke into a grin. "You catch on pretty quick."
As quick as anyone he had ever encountered, Qui-Gon Jinn thought. That was the reason Anakin was so special. It gave evidence of his high midi-chlorian count. It suggested anew that he was the chosen one.
The Jedi Master sighed. Why could the Council not accept that this was so? Why were they so afraid of taking a chance on the boy, when the signs were so clear?
Qui-Gon found himself frustrated all over again. He understood their thinking. It was bad that Anakin was so old, but not fatal to his chances. What troubled them was not his age, but the conflict they sensed within him. Anakin was wrestling with his parentage, with his separation from his mother, his friends, and his home. Especially his mother. He was old enough to appreciate what might happen, and the result was an uncertainty that worked within him like a caged animal seeking to break free. The Jedi Council knew that it could not tame that uncertainty from without, that it could be mastered only from within. They believed Anakin Skywalker too old for this, his thinking and his beliefs too settled to be safely reshaped. He was vulnerable to his inner conflict, and the dark side would be quick to take advantage of this.
Qui-Gon shook his head, staring over at the boy from the back of the cockpit. Yes, there were risks in accepting him as an apprentice. But few things of worth were accomplished in life without risk. The Jedi order was founded on strict adherence to established procedures in the raising and educating of young Jedi, but there were exceptions to all things, even this. That the Jedi Council was refusing even to consider that this was an instance in which an exception should be made was intolerable.
Still, he must keep faith, he knew. He must believe. The decision not to train Anakin would be reconsidered on their return and reversed. If the Council did not embrace the boy's training as a Jedi voluntarily, then it would be up to Qui-Gon to find a way to make it do so.
He turned away then and walked from the cabin to the passa
geways beyond and descended one level to the Queen's chambers. The others she had called together for this meeting were already present when he arrived. Obi-Wan gave him a brief, neutral nod of recognition, standing next to a glowering Captain Panaka. Jar Jar Binks hugged the wall to one side, apparendy trying to disappear into it. Amidala sat on her shipboard throne on a raised dais set against one wall, two of her handmaidens, Rabe and Eirtae, flanking her. Her white-painted face was composed and her gaze cool as it met his own, but there was fire in the words she spoke next.
"When we land on Naboo," she advised the Jedi Master after he had bowed and taken up a position next to Panaka, "it is my intention to act on this invasion at once. My people have suffered enough. "
Panaka could barely contain himself, his dark face tight with anger. "When we land, Your Highness, the Trade Federation will arrest you and force you to sign their treaty!"
Qui-Gon nodded thoughtfully, curious as to the Queen's thinking. "I agree. I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish by this."
Amidala might have been carved from stone. "The Naboo are going to take back what is ours."
"There are only twelve of us!" Panaka snapped, unable to keep silent. "Your Highness," he added belatedly. "We have no army!"
Her eyes shifted to Qui-Gon. "The Jedi cannot fight a war for you, Your Highness," he advised. "We can only protect you."
She let her gaze drift from them to setde on Jar Jar. The Gungan was studying his toes. "Jar Jar Binks!" she called.
Jar Jar, clearly caught off guard, stiffened. "Me, Your Highness?"
"Yes," Amidala of the Naboo affirmed. "I have need of your help."
Deep in the Naboo swamps, at the edge of the lake that bored downward to the Gungan capital city of Otoh Gunga, the fugitives from the Queen's transport were grouped at the water's edge, waiting for the return of Jar Jar Binks. Amidala and her handmaidens, the J edi Knights, Captain Panaka, Anakin, R2-D2, Ric Olie and several other pilots, and a handful ofNaboo guards clustered uneasily in the misty silence. It was safe to say that even now no one but the Queen knew exactly what it was she was attempting to do. All she had been willing to reveal to those in a position to inquire was that she wished to make contact with the Gungan people and Jar Jar would be her emissary. She had insisted on landing in the swamp, even after both Panaka and the Jedi had advised against it.
A single battleship orbited the planet, all that remained of the Trade Federation blockade. Housed within was the control station responsible for directing the droid army that occupied Naboo. When Panaka wondered aloud at the absence of the other battleships, Qui-Gon pointed out rather dryly that you don't need a blockade once you control the port.
Anakin, standing apart from the others with R2-D2, studied the group surreptitiously. Jar Jar had been gone a long time, and everyone but the Queen was growing restless. She stood wrapped in her soft robes, silent and implacable in the midst of her handmaidens. Padme, Eirtae, and Rabe had changed from their crimson hooded cloaks into more functional trousers, tunics, boots, and long- waisted overcoats, and there were blasters strapped to their waists. The boy had never seen Padme like this, and he found himself wondering how good a fighter she was.
As if realizing he was thinking of her, Padme broke away from the others and came over to him.
"How are you, Annie?" she asked quiedy, her kind eyes locking on his.
He shrugged. "Okay. I've missed you."
"It's good to see you again. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to talk with you before, but I've been very busy."
They hadn't spoken more than a few words to each other since leaving Tatooine, and Anakin hadn't even seen Padme since their departure from Coruscant. It had bothered him, but he'd kept it to himself.
"I didn't-I-" he stuttered, looking down at his boots. "They decided not to make me a J edi."
He recounted the story for her, detailing the events surrounding his appearance before the Jedi Council. Padme listened intendy, then touched his cheek with her cool fingers. "They can change their minds, Annie. Don't give up hope."
She bent close then. "I have something to tell you. The Queen has made a painful, difficult decision-a decision that will change everything for the Naboo. We are a peaceful people, and we do not believe in war. But sometimes there is no choice. Either you adapt or you die. The Queen understands this. She has decided to take an aggressive posture with the Trade Federation army. The Naboo are going to fight to regain their freedom. "
"Will there be a batde?" he asked quickly, trying unsuccessfully to hide his excitement.
She nodded. "I'm afraid so."
"Will you be involved?" he pressed.
She smiled sadly. "Annie, I don't have a choice."
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood together some distance away. The Jedi still weren't speaking to each other, or only barely so. Their words on the journey out from Coruscant had been reserved almost exclusively for others. The hard feelings caused by Qui-Gon's bid to train Anakin did not soften. The boy had tried to talk to Obi-Wan once aboard the Queen's ship, just to say he was sorry this had happened, but the younger Jedi had brushed him off.
Now, though, Obi-Wan was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the situation. He had been close with Qui-Gon for too long to let a momentary disagreement put an end to twenty-odd years offriendship. Qui-Gon was like a father to him, the only father he knew. He was angry that the Jedi Master would dismiss him so abruptly in favor of the boy, but he realized, too, the depth of Qui-Gon's passion when he believed in something. Training this boy to be a Jedi was a cause Qui-Gon championed as he had championed no other in Obi-Wan's memory. He did not do so to slight his protege. He did so because he believed in the boy's destiny.
Obi-Wan understood. Who could say? Perhaps this time Qui-Gon was right. Perhaps Anakin Skywalker's training was a cause worth fighting for.
"I've been thinking," Qui-Gon announced suddenly, keeping his voice low, his eyes directed toward the others. "We are treading on dangerous ground. If the Queen intends to fight a war, we cannot become involved. Not even in her efforts to persuade the Gungans to join with the Naboo against the Federation, if that is what she intends by coming here. The Jedi have no authority to take sides."
"But we do have authority to protect the Queen," Obi-Wan pointed out.
Qui-Gon's eyes shifted to find his. "It is a fine line we walk, then."
"Master," Obi-Wan said, facing him now. "I behaved badly on Coruscant, and I am embarrassed. I meant no disrespect to you. I do not wish to be difficult in the matter of the boy."
"Nor have you been," the older Jedi replied, a faint smile appearing. "You have been honest with me. Honesty is never wrong. I did not lie when I told the Council you were ready. You are. I have taught you all I can. You will be a great Jedi, my young Padawan. You will make me proud."
They gripped hands impulsively, and as quickly as that the breach that had opened between them was closed.
Moments later, a dark shape broke the surface of the water with a splash, and Jar Jar Binks climbed from the lake, shaking water from his amphibious skin onto the assembled. Long ears dripping, billed mouth shedding water like a duck's, he shook his head worriedly.
"Tis nobody dere! Deys all gone!" His eyestalks swiveled. "Some kinda fight, deys have. Maccaneks, mebbe. Very bombad. Otoh Gunga empty. All Gungans gone. All gone."
"Do you think they have been taken to the camps?" Panaka asked quickly, glancing around at the group.
"More likely they were wiped out," Obi-Wan offered in disgust.
But Jar Jar shook his head. "Me no think so. Gungans too smart. Go into hiding. When dey in trubble, go to sacred place. Maccaneks no find dem dere."
Qui-Gon stepped forward. "Sacred place?" he repeated. "Can you take us there, Jar Jar?"
The Gungan sighed heavily, as if to say "Here we go again," and beckoned for them to follow.
They traversed the swamp for some time, first skirting the lake, then plunging deep into a forest of massive trees and tall gr
asses, following a water-screened pathway that connected a series of knolls. Somewhere in the distance, Trade Federation STAPs buzzed and whined as a search for the transport fugitives commenced in earnest. Jar Jar glanced about apprehensively as he picked his way through the mire, but did not slow.
Finally, they emerged in a clearing of marshy grasses and stands of trees with roots tangled so thickly they formed what appeared to be an impassable hedge. Jar Jar stopped, sniffed the air speculatively, and nodded. "Dissen it."
